It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


Another Reason to Boot Bush: Slipping Mutely Away From Democracy
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
 
Another Reason to Boot Bush: On September 13, 2004 Vladimir Putin announced that Russia's regional governors would be appointed rather than elected, and that candidates could only run for election to the Duma (Russia's parliament) if they were affiliated with one of the national parties, which Putin controls. The latter move would prevent half of the current membership of the Duma from legally running for election.

In short, Putin announced the shuttering of Russia's democratic experiment.

You'd think that a democracy-loving American government would have a problem with this development. But George W. Bush made no remarks whatsoever on the subject that day or the next. And when asked about developments in Russia on September 14, Dick Cheney declined to make any statement disparaging Russia's move away from democracy, other than to say that "President Putin and President Bush have a good relationship."

Our nation and the world deserve more than an administration that stands mutely by as democracy slips away. (Sources: New York Times September 14, 2004; Remarks of Vice President in Ottumwa, Iowa on September 14, 2004)

Posted by James Cook at 1:13 PM. # (permalink)



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